Improvement in corsets



O. W. POSTER. Corset.

No. 198,881. Patented Jan. 1, 1878.,

N-PErERs, PHOTuLITHOGRAPl-JER, WASHINGTON, D C.

full, clear, and exact description thereof, which UNITED STATES PATENT()FFICE.

-CHARLESW. FOSTER, OF NEW' HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORSETS.

- I Specificationforming part of Letters Patent No. 198,881, datedJanuary 1,1878; application filed December 3, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. FOSTER, of New Haven, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented cer' tain new anduseful Improvements in Corsets; andI do hereby declare that thefollowing is a will enable others skilledin the art to which itappertains to make'and'use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification, and in which- V Figure 1 is aside elevation, and Fig. 2 is a front view. a

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both thefigures.

My improvement consists in the construction of the body of the corset insuch amanner as to adapt it to fit various forms, such as slim, medium,and corpulent, substantially as hereinafter more fully described, andpointed out in the claim.

In the drawings, A is the bodyof the corset,

and a denotes the stays or bones. At 1) b are represented the adjustingrecesses or open-- ings, having eyelets c on each side, and a draw-cord,d, by means of which the recess may be opened or drawn. Four of theserecesses are placed at the bottom, and two, b b, at the top of thecorset, all being, however, similar in construction. But it is essentialthat the adjusting-recesses b b are so arranged in relation to eachother as to alternate-that is, each of the top recesses b is placedbetween two of the bottom recesses 12 b. This arrangement admits of theproper adjustment of the corset to the figure, the adjustment-recessesbeing so placed, relative to each other, as to admit of expansion atthose parts of the figure where such adjustment would be most likely toprove desirable, without, at the same time, in the least impairing theshape of the corset.

On the drawing I have shown a bush or front clasp, in which the studs eare placed at that edge of the clasp which is farthest from the edge ofthe corset, so as to give the opposite clasp-stay g a bearing againstthe front face of clasp-stay f. The advantage of this construction andarrangement is twofold: first, the strength of both clasps is increasedby their mutually supporting each other; and, second, the edges of thetwo clasps are not liable to chafe the body of the wearer, the

edges of the narrower clasp being completely covered by that of thebroader clasp-piece f, as

clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

Having thus described my improvement, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States- In a corset, the top recesses oropenings 11, having eyelets c and draw-cords d, alternating with bottomrecesses b, similarly constructed,

substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHAS. WILLIAM FOSTER.

. Witnesses:

HENRY D. RUssELL, JO N P. STUDLEY.

